Fedor Gorst claimed his sixth ranking title on the World Nineball Tour on Sunday evening, defeating Roberto Gomez 15-10 to win the Rally in the Shenandoah Valley tournament in Front Royal, Virginia.
Gorst, the current world number two in the WNT rankings, secured his maiden title for this calendar year, compiling six break and runs in an arduous victory over Gomez to clinch the $7,000 top prize in the Mother of States.
Gomez registered two break and runs as he constructed an early 4-0 lead, although a poor escape in rack five allowed Gorst to put together two of his own and quickly restore parity at four apiece.
Gorst continued his onslaught, recording another two break and runs and winning four of the next five to gain a four-rack buffer. A dry break meant Gomez returned to the table, and the Filipino halved the deficit to 9-7.
A third break and run for Gomez meant that he further reduced the arrears, only for two crucial scratches – one from the break and the other from an attempted safety – to hinder his hopes as Gorst continued to chip away and move into an 11-9 lead.
Gorst soon made matters worse for the Filipino, break and running once again to extend his lead to 12-9. A scratch of his own handed Gomez a lifeline, although a poor safety and a couple of minor errors – as well as a tremendous jump shot from Gorst – resigned him to a 15-10 defeat.
Beforehand, Moscow-born Gorst had fended off a spirited comeback from BJ Ussery in the semi-finals. Ussery had battled back from 7-0 behind to gain a 12-11 lead, only Gorst to break and run at hill-hill to conclude a captivating contest.
Gorst had recorded prior victories over travel partner Vitaliy Patsura, the former Texas Open champion, as well as Nathan Childress, Alex Bausch and Brent Worth.
Gomez, meanwhile, came through a tough draw to reach his maiden WNT ranking final, defeating Danny Olson, Sam Henderson and Lukas Fracasso-Verner during double elimination, before denying Brandon Shuff, Tyler Styer and Sullivan Clark.
New Zealand’s Clark needed to beat Rodney Morris on the one-loss side to reach the last 16 following a defeat at the hands of Styer, although he overcame Jeffrey De Luna and Eric Roberts in notable victories to reach his maiden ranking semi-final.
The World Pool Championship is the next ranking tournament on the WNT calendar from June 3-8 in Saudi Arabia, while the next event in the United States takes place at Midwest Billiards Expo in Iowa from July 9-14.
